Season 2 · Episode 135
135 - Why COVID-19 Testing is Such a Mess in the US
Public Health On Call · Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
August 12, 202014m 29s
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Show Notes
Nearly six months into the US outbreak, getting a test for COVID-19 is still messy, and getting results can take so long that they're useless for contact tracing and isolating. Scott Becker, chief executive of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the complexities of testing and why we should not expect anything to change in the next six months. Becker also talks about the innovation happening to try and reduce excessive wait times for results, the role of public health labs, and the burden of responsibility on individuals to "flatten the curve" of demand on testing.